The use of fertilizers to improve plant and seed growth is well known. Various ingredients can be used to make up the fertilizer, including the typical elements of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous, and micronutrients such as boron and the like, as well as various filler materials such as sodium sulphate, talc, clay, calcium carbonate, bentonite, silica, diatomaceous earth, metal oxides such as titanium dioxide, sulfur powder, slow release agents, and water swellable polymers. Kelp with its natural growth hormones as well as other synthetic growth hormone formulations are other viable candidates for use with fertilizers. Examples of natural growth hormones are cytokinins, auxins, and gibberellins. One example of a synthetic growth hormone is Technical Kinetin, which is sold as 98.5 wt. % cytokinin and 1.5 wt. % other ingredients, and is available from Stoller USA of Houston Tex. Other materials from Stoller USA that are synthetic growth hormones include Technical Gibberellic Acid (GA3), which contains 92 wt. % of gibberellic acid and 8 wt. % other ingredients material, and Indole-3-butyric Acid, which contains 99 wt. % indole-3-butyric acid (auxin) and 1 wt. % other ingredients. Other synthetic growth hormones include abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid, ethylene, 1-naphthylacetic acid (NM), brassinosteriods, salicylic acid (SA), oligogalacturonides (pectin-derived polymers), xyloglucan (hemicellulose-derived polymers), and benzyladenine (BA). It should be understood that the Stoller USA products and those recited above are only examples of the types of synthetic hormones that others are commercially available.
There is always a need for improved fertilizer products and methods of application to improve the growth of plants and seed as well as other forms of vegetation and the like.
The present invention has responded to this need by the discovery that sarcosine provides unexpected benefits in terms of plant biomass growth when used in an effective amount with a fertilizer.